SEGA had nothing to say on the topic, but as it happens, both games are now available again – after less than a week of absence. We expect them both to turn up on other digital distributors if they haven’t already.

Given the date of the mysterious disappearance, it’s almost certainly a matter of licensing deals expiring and being renewed. Not especially exciting stuff, alas.

Gearbox created the Aliens: Colonial Marines demos that sparked such controversy and “leaked” misleading information, Sega has alleged.

According to Polygon‘s ongoing courage of documents related to the suit, Sega’s latest filing rebuts Gearbox’s earlier claim that it had nothing to do with the marketing of Aliens: Colonial Marines.

The filing includes multiple internal emails and paints a sorry picture of a bold marketing plan gone wrong. Initially, Sega seems excited by the possibility of working closely with Gearbox on marketing, describing Pitchford as a “respected development celebrity” and “guaranteed to be headline material in worldwide press coverage”.

By E3 2011, and the notorious demo later used in trailers and other promotional materials, things were starting to go south. Sega says the demo was created entirely by Gearbox, and that Gearbox told Sega it was representative of the final product. (You may remember Pitchford describing this demo as actual gameplay.)

Sega PR manager Matt Eyre said he confronted Gearbox about its leaks, and was told they were a result of Pitchford “doing whatever the fuck he likes”.

In an internal email from Sega’s Matt Powers, the senior producer says Gearbox “verified” the E3 2011 demo “is indeed the bar that we should use to determine where the entire game will be”. It’s interesting that he goes on to say that he “just wanted to double-check with them” – was there some doubt creeping in?

In addition to the demo, Sega cited eight examples of Gearbox making announcements either to press or the public without Sega’s permission, including releasing information Sega had asked Gearbox not to reveal. This goes against the marketing agreement between the two companies, Sega said, and if ture certainly casts doubt on Gearbox’s earlier assertion that it wasn’t involved in marketing at all.

In another internal email, Sega PR manager Matt Eyre said he confronted Gearbox about its leaks, which included website posts, panel discussions and more, and was told they were a result of Pitchford “doing whatever the fuck he likes”.

“Apparently he did it twice on [Borderlands 2] also, against, against all plans and despite the fact they asked him not to. I think our best result here is that we have no more panel sessions,” Eyre said.

Sega also rebutted Gearbox’s claim of not earning any royalties on Aliens: Colonial Marines, saying it paid millions in “advance” royalties, and has requested the court ignore Gearbox’s request to be removed from the suit. The next hearing will be held on October 29.

While not admitting any fault, Sega has proposed paying out $1.25 million to claimants. Doing so would protect it from all future actions on the same matter – but would not extend that same protection to Gearbox.

Interestingly, this latest filing also claims Gearbox were offered the chance to be part of the settlement, thereby gaining its protection, for the sum of $750,000. Gearbox’s response to this was the motion mentioned above, requesting it be removed from the suit.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2014/09/04/aliens-colonial-marines-false-advertising-randy-pitchford-does-whatever-he-likes/feed/0Aliens: Colonial Marines may cost Sega a $1.25 million settlementhttp://www.vg247.com/2014/08/12/aliens-colonial-marines-may-cost-sega-a-1-25-million-settlement/
http://www.vg247.com/2014/08/12/aliens-colonial-marines-may-cost-sega-a-1-25-million-settlement/#commentsTue, 12 Aug 2014 05:33:06 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=486298Aliens: Colonial Marines publisher Sega has offered to pony up $1.25 million in response to claims it is guilty of false advertising.

Aliens: Colonial Marines released in 2013 and disappointed many fans; the game didn’t look or play the way pre-release demos did, or the way trailers and promotional footage made it seem to.

Sega has not emulated it, proposing instead to pay out $1.25 million to settle the action – although it has denied wrongdoing, the publisher wants to avoid the costs of litigation.

According to Polygon, drawing on court documents, the settlement would protect Sega from all future litigation on the subject – but Gearbox could still be in for trouble.

Eligible customers will be able to make a claim and take a slice of about $740,000 set aside for the purpose. The amount each will receive depends on how many claims are filed, and regardless of the claims filed Sega will hand over the full amount.

Aliens: Colonial Marines didn’t bring in any profits for Gearbox, the developer has revealed in a series of legal documents pertaining to a class-action lawsuit.

“During the development process, Gearbox supplemented Sega’s development budget with its own money to help Sega finish its game; Gearbox’s contribution to A:CM totaled millions, none of which was ever repaid,” the developer has claimed.

“Gearbox never received money from Sega’s A:CM purchasers, nor has Gearbox received a single royalty from any such sales by Sega.”

That’s not because Sega has been dodgy, or anything – Sega fronted the agreed-upon milestone payments. It’s just that Aliens: Colonial Marines did not meet contractual sales targets.

“The game’s sales were insufficient to trigger any sales-based payments to Gearbox and, as a result, Gearbox has not received any additional monies from Sega for the sale of the game. Gearbox only received the milestone payments made by Sega during the game’s development,” Gearbox said.

Aliens: Colonial Marines released in 2013 and was absolutely slammed by reviewers and most players. It quickly became apparent that the finished game bore little relation to demos toured at trade shows, supplied to press for previews and captured for promotional videos, and gamers – especially those who’d pre-ordered – were understandably pretty angry.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2014/08/01/aliens-colonial-marines-no-royalties-says-gearbox/feed/0PS Plus US members get Galaga Legions DX free, Call of Duty sale & more from tomorrowhttp://www.vg247.com/2013/09/09/ps-plus-us-members-get-galaga-legions-dx-free-call-of-duty-sale-more/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/09/09/ps-plus-us-members-get-galaga-legions-dx-free-call-of-duty-sale-more/#commentsMon, 09 Sep 2013 15:24:11 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=406342PlayStation Plus members across the US can get Galaga Legions DX for free tomorrow, as well as a slew of Call of Duty discounts, Aliens: Colonial Marines savings and more. Get the details here.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/09/09/ps-plus-us-members-get-galaga-legions-dx-free-call-of-duty-sale-more/feed/2Aliens: Colonial Marines actor Michael Biehn calls project “passionless”http://www.vg247.com/2013/07/29/aliens-colonial-marines-actor-michael-biehn-calls-project-passionless/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/07/29/aliens-colonial-marines-actor-michael-biehn-calls-project-passionless/#commentsMon, 29 Jul 2013 11:06:08 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=392780Aliens: Colonial Marines actor Michael Biehn has commented negatively on his experience in voicing Dwayne Hicks for the Gearbox Software shooter. By comparison however, he said his work on Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon was enjoyable as the team at Ubisoft clearly had passion for the project.

Speaking with Game Informer, Biehn discussed his work as Rex ‘Power’ Colt in Blood Dragon, before commenting on his experience of Aliens: Colonial Marines.

“The only other gaming experience that I had was I did a voice [Corporal Hicks] in the Aliens game that they made,” he said. “That wasn’t fun at all. I just didn’t really have any fun. It seemed kind of passionless. I think in movies, television and the gaming world, you get some people that are really, really passionate, and some people that are just going through the paces.

“They think that because they have a brand name they’re going to get a hit game or hit movie out of it. That certainly was the situation on [Aliens: Colonial Marines].”

By contrast he added that Blood Dragon’s creative director Dean Evans showed so much enthusiasm for the game and the 1980s movies at the heart of the game’s comedic elements that he ended up having a blast.

“[Evans] was talking to me about the game and the fact that it was an ’80s throwback,” Biehn continued, “and there would be a lot of lines that were Arnold Schwarzenegger-like, that were Stallone-like, Bruce Willis, myself.

“Those kind of lines, that kind of vibe, and the fact that it was going to be a throwback to the ’80s was something that I thought was interesting. But really it was his passion, man. You just can’t say no to him.”

What did you think of Biehn’s performance in both game, and did Aliens: Colonial Marines feel passionless to you? Let us know below.

Over the weekend it was reported that the DLC would land on July 23, and sure enough, it has without any formal announcement.

Here’s the synopsis:

“The story begins as Lisbeth Hutchins and other passengers onboard the spaceship Legato wake unexpectedly from hypersleep and must figure out why their vessel has been diverted to intercept the Sulaco leaving LV-426′s orbit. Fight your way through the alien-infested spaceship, find out what Michael Weyland is after, and discover what truly happened to Hicks.”

Season Pass holders can get it for free, otherwise it will run you 800 Microsoft Points. Expect it to land tomorrow on PSN in Europe.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/07/23/aliens-colonial-marines-dlc-stasis-interrupted-arrives-on-xblm/feed/3Aliens: Colonial Marines DLC Stasis Interrupted could land next week – reporthttp://www.vg247.com/2013/07/20/aliens-colonial-marines-dlc-stasis-interrupted-could-land-next-week-report/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/07/20/aliens-colonial-marines-dlc-stasis-interrupted-could-land-next-week-report/#commentsSat, 20 Jul 2013 20:04:30 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=390567The rumored Aliens: Colonial Marines DLC, Stasis Interrupted, could be released as early as next week, according to DSoGaming.

Per the site’s report, the DLC is slated to land on July 23 and will be preceded by a patch filled with a variety of fixes.

Here’s the synopsis posted on the site:

“The story begins as Lisbeth Hutchins and other passengers onboard the spaceship Legato wake unexpectedly from hypersleep and must figure out why their vessel has been diverted to intercept the Sulaco leaving LV-426′s orbit. Fight your way through the alien-infested spaceship, find out what Michael Weyland is after, and discover what truly happened to Hicks.”

A source for the information wasn’t provided, thus the rumor tag. We’ll send SEGA a mail.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/07/20/aliens-colonial-marines-dlc-stasis-interrupted-could-land-next-week-report/feed/5Aliens: Colonial Marines trophies point to ‘Stasis Interrupted’ campaign DLChttp://www.vg247.com/2013/07/08/aliens-colonial-marines-trophies-point-to-stasis-interrupted-campaign-dlc/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/07/08/aliens-colonial-marines-trophies-point-to-stasis-interrupted-campaign-dlc/#commentsMon, 08 Jul 2013 08:36:48 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=386004Aliens: Colonial Marines has received a new batch of PS3 trophies, which suggests a new campaign DLC called’ Stasis Interrupted’ is due to be announced soon. Sega has yet to mention the content, however.

While the DLC has yet to be dated or priced, the PS3 Trophies has listed the objectives, which suggests players will return to the Solaco ship, and tussle with the alien queen once more.

If real, this will serve as the final piece of Aliens: Colonial Marines’ DLC season pass content.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/07/08/aliens-colonial-marines-trophies-point-to-stasis-interrupted-campaign-dlc/feed/3Aliens: Colonial Marines wasn’t intended to exploit, says Pitchford to accusing fanshttp://www.vg247.com/2013/07/02/aliens-colonial-marines-wasnt-intended-to-exploit-says-pitchford-to-accusing-fans/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/07/02/aliens-colonial-marines-wasnt-intended-to-exploit-says-pitchford-to-accusing-fans/#commentsTue, 02 Jul 2013 11:16:22 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=384661Aliens: Colonial Marines was not intended to exploit gamers, Gearbox Software founder Randy Pitchford has said. The developer engaged in a Twitter argument with fans on the matter, after he suggested the industry should entertain, rather than exploit.

This is the tweet that started the fracas:

I just read something horrifying: http://t.co/yBGeQZqPb8 Our industry should exist to entertain and inspire, not to exploit!

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/07/02/aliens-colonial-marines-wasnt-intended-to-exploit-says-pitchford-to-accusing-fans/feed/14Sega Q1 financials: Aliens sold 1.3m units, profits up 53%http://www.vg247.com/2013/05/10/sega-q1-financials-aliens-sold-1-3m-units-profits-up-53/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/05/10/sega-q1-financials-aliens-sold-1-3m-units-profits-up-53/#commentsFri, 10 May 2013 09:35:41 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=365590Sega has published details of its Q1 financial report, highlighting a 53% profit increase for the year ended March 31, 2013. The publisher’s biggest hit for the year was Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, while Aliens: Colonial Marines old1.3 million copies worldwide.

Sega’s net income hit ¥33.4 billion, a 53% year-on-year increase over last year’s ¥21,820 total. Operating income was up 67.3% at ¥19 billion, while net sales were up 18.7% at ¥321 billion.

The company is now forecasting net income of ¥47 billion for the next financial year.

In software, Aliens: Colonial Marines sold 1.3 million units in the west, despite its poor reaction among the press. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed was the big hitter, with 1.36 million copies shipped. Sports games were a huge driver for the company’s western sales as well, with sales of Football Manager 2013 hitting 940,000 and the Olympic title London 2012 selling 680,000 units.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/05/03/colonial-marines-lawsuit-without-merit-frivolous-say-defendants/feed/8TimeGate Studios files for Chapter 11 bankruptcyhttp://www.vg247.com/2013/05/02/timegate-studios-files-for-chapter-11-bankruptcy/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/05/02/timegate-studios-files-for-chapter-11-bankruptcy/#commentsThu, 02 May 2013 19:39:43 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=363528After laying off a lot of staff members and being hit with a $7.35 million lawsuit by SouthPeak Interactive, TimeGate Studios has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

According to a report on Polygon, the main creditors the firm is filing bankruptcy on are Epic Games, Southpeak Interactive, Agora Games, DJ2 Entertainment, and a local pizza place.

Monetary amounts owed range from $34.80 to $20 million. In all there are less than 50 creditors and total liabilities range from $10 million to $50 million.

Chapter 11 is a chapter of the United States Bankruptcy Code, permitting reorganization under US bankruptcy laws and is available to every business or individual. However, it is used prominently by corporations.

Edelson also argued that by holding review code and embargoing coverage until launch day, Sega and Gearbox conspired to keep consumers from learning of the differences between footage shown to date and the finished product. Those who purchased the game on launch day or pre-ordered it are thus eligible for damages, the suit suggested.

“Each of the ‘actual gameplay’ demonstrations purported to show consumers exactly what they would be buying: a cutting edge video game with very specific features and qualities/ Unfortunately for their fans, Defendants never told anyone – consumers, industry critics, reviewers, or reporters – that their ‘actual gameplay’ demonstration advertising campaign bore little resemblance to the retail product that would eventually be sold to a large community of unwitting purchasers,” Edelson staff argued in the claim.

A claim of false advertising was brought against EA regarding Mass Effect 3 last year, but was dismissed.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/05/01/aliens-colonial-marines-targeted-by-class-action-false-advertising-suit/feed/8Aliens: Colonial Marines patch re-released on Steam after being pulledhttp://www.vg247.com/2013/04/10/aliens-colonial-marines-patch-re-released-on-steam-after-being-pulled/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/04/10/aliens-colonial-marines-patch-re-released-on-steam-after-being-pulled/#commentsWed, 10 Apr 2013 16:53:32 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=357092Aliens: Colonial Marines received a patch yesterday from Gearbox Software on Steam, only to be pulled due to problems reported such as missing downloadable content and and not being able to use ini tweaks due to anti-cheating changes. Gearbox said it pulled the patch until it could figure out what was causing the corrupt DLC error, and later on in t he night it re-released the patch stating that the reported problems had been solved. The firm said on its forums it “continuing to work on updates for all platforms, including the hot fix support mentioned at PAX,” and that more details would be released once finalized. The patch which was re-released added a toggle for the film grain filter and increased security to address cheats and exploits.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/04/10/aliens-colonial-marines-patch-re-released-on-steam-after-being-pulled/feed/2Aliens: Colonial Marines for Wii U canceled, confirms SEGAhttp://www.vg247.com/2013/04/05/aliens-colonial-marines-for-wii-u-canceled-confirms-sega/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/04/05/aliens-colonial-marines-for-wii-u-canceled-confirms-sega/#commentsFri, 05 Apr 2013 18:19:43 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=355740SEGA has canceled the Wii U version of Aliens: Colonial Marines, after weeks of Internet rumblings on the matter. A spokesperson confirmed the cancellation to Kotaku with the following statement: “We are constantly looking at all areas of our business and in this case have made the decision to not continue development of the Wii U version. Rest assured that we have some fantastic developments for Wii U in the pipeline which we will announce at a later date.”

SEGA also contacted VG247 to confirm that the Wii U sku of Aliens: Colonial Marines “is no longer in development.”

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/04/05/aliens-colonial-marines-for-wii-u-canceled-confirms-sega/feed/10Aliens: Colonial Marines Wii U mysteriously delayedhttp://www.vg247.com/2013/04/04/aliens-colonial-marines-wii-u-mysteriously-delayed/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/04/04/aliens-colonial-marines-wii-u-mysteriously-delayed/#commentsThu, 04 Apr 2013 01:13:40 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=355053Aliens: Colonial Marines still has not received a new released date for Wii U having missed a targeted March launch. A Sega representative simply told Gamespot that the publisher has no comment on the matter, and Gearbox and port developer Demiurge are also playing mum. The shooter attracted a great deal of attention at release due to its poor critical reception, and discrepancies between promotional materials and the final product have even drawn the wrath of the UK’s Advertising Standards Agency.
]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/04/04/aliens-colonial-marines-wii-u-mysteriously-delayed/feed/11Aliens: Colonial Marines patched again on PS3, Xbox 360http://www.vg247.com/2013/03/21/aliens-colonial-marines-patched-again-on-ps3-xbox-360/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/03/21/aliens-colonial-marines-patched-again-on-ps3-xbox-360/#commentsThu, 21 Mar 2013 11:10:17 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=351377Aliens: Colonial Marines has received another patch on PS3 and Xbox 360. This time the update fixes odd animations, multiplayer bugs and other weird goings on.

Gearbox announced the console patch over on its forum, along with some patch notes. Head to the bottom of this page to read them in full.

The patch is out for Xbox 360 players, and Gearbox’s Twitter said PC and PlayStation 3 versions are “on the way”.

Full patch notes are available on the Gearbox forum, but the latest update applies a number of important fixes to the Xbox 360 version of the shooter.

In the campaign co-operative mode, Gearbox believes it has fixed the unreliable revive and spawn problems. It’s plugged up gaps in the maps players could walk through, and squashed an exploit which made marines invincible.

The ever-burning flamethrower has been extinguished, and achievements should unlock correctly now. NPCs should be better at navigation, and One Bullet has been tweaked so, uh, you don’t have access to more bullets than that.

Also, a new Xeno appearance customization has been added to Versus mode.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/03/08/aliens-colonial-marines-xbox-360-patched-pc-and-ps3-to-follow/feed/7Aliens: Colonial Marines made in just nine months – rumourhttp://www.vg247.com/2013/02/26/aliens-colonial-marines-made-in-just-nine-months-rumour/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/02/26/aliens-colonial-marines-made-in-just-nine-months-rumour/#commentsTue, 26 Feb 2013 00:33:55 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=343615Aliens: Colonial Marines spent four years in stasis at Gearbox; two years in development at TimeGate; and nine months being hastily turned into a working game, anonymous sources have claimed.

Kotaku cites multiple sources in tracking the tale of the shooter’s development. The site reports Gearbox Software handed over development of Aliens: Colonial Marines to TimeGate Studios in 2010, four years on from its announce.

The game Timegate received wasn’t very good, allegedly. “There was obviously not four years of work done on the game,” a source said, explaining that Gearbox had been working on Duke Nukem Forever and Borderlands 2 instead.

The project was said to be “a hodgepodge” of assets including some from other games. Some sources said TimeGate had to start development all over again, while others said they worked with what they’d got.

Even as late as 2011, TimeGate didn’t have a finished script to work with and had to throw out whole missions and characters as the plot changed, the sources said. Both Sega and Gearbox were described as in conflict over the game’s vision, providing “inconsistent and delayed feedback”.

Finally, in mid-2012, Gearbox finished Borderlands 2, and according to Kotaku’s sources, “took the project back” from TimeGate and “changed everything”; TimeGate’s game was pretty bad, the sources said, and didn’t even work on PlayStation 3.

Many of TimeGate’s assets remain intact, the sources said, but Gearbox basically rebuilt the game;

“The game feels like it was made in nine months, and that’s because it was,” said a source, noting that Gearbox couldn’t ask Sega for an extension after seven years.

The account hails from a blog called SEGA Awakens, allegedly written by an anonymous Sega employee using the name Bryan Danielson. It’s a bit “guy on the Internet says” – but Destructoid claims to have independently verified the information.

“Gearbox stole from SEGA, they robbed us, lied to us about the game, and tried to get another company to make the game instead,” Danielson said.

“Pitchford and Gearbox wanted to focus heavily on Duke Nukem Forever, but how would they get the money to hire some of the 3D Realms team and even buy the intellectual property? Sure, they made a lot from Borderlands, but guess where they got the money to fund Borderlands in the first place? Yup, SEGA.

“So Gearbox essentially lied to SEGA, mishandled funds, broke agreements and contractual obligations to work on other projects, didn’t want to work on a game they were contractually obligated to work on and gave it to another team, poor organization and direction on ACM, took on too many projects from different companies at once, and other things that we may not even know about. Hell, part of me believes that Gearbox wanted this thing delayed as much as possible so they can get more funding money to embezzle from SEGA.”

Danielson said he’s heard rumours that Sega is looking for ways to sure Gearbox but that the developer met the letter of the law in fulfilling its contract. As such, he had some harsh words for the publisher, too.

“I strongly believe that SEGA should not have released the game and made the fans pay for it, they should have taken Gearbox straight to court, because they stole money from us to fund Borderlands and Duke Nukem Forever,” he said.

“This should be a lesson in management for you all. In my view, the board and the people supplying the money should not have any creative control over a product. In this case, what happened clearly was SEGA had a decent eye on the project, rightfully cancelled it, when they saw the problems, then someone decided to restart the project, leading to this massive mess.

“This game should have been cancelled permanently, and the final product is undeniable proof of it. Despite that, I believe SEGA wanted to try to get some of the money back, at the fans’ expense. SEGA should have also watched the project and development a lot better, because there was a lot of warning signs that said this was a disaster in the making.”

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/02/24/aliens-colonial-marines-gearbox-stole-says-alleged-sega-staffer/feed/20TimeGate résumés give insight into just how much they did on Aliens: Colonial Marineshttp://www.vg247.com/2013/02/21/timegate-resumes-give-insight-into-just-how-much-they-did-on-aliens-colonial-marines/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/02/21/timegate-resumes-give-insight-into-just-how-much-they-did-on-aliens-colonial-marines/#commentsThu, 21 Feb 2013 22:08:56 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=342712Jim Sterling, with help from some civilians, has pulled up the résumés of some folks at TimeGate studio that describe the kind of work they did on Colonial Marines.
Before last week, we knew TimeGate Studios had done work on the new Aliens game with Gearbox (who, I should point out, has always been listed as the primary developer of the game), but little light had been shed on what their contributions were. Then the game came out and was almost universally panned, and rumors started popping up that TimeGate had actually been responsible for the bulk of the campaign’s production.

Sterling has unearthed four résumés, and you can read his full report on them here. I will highlight two of them.

First, we have Steve Baroski. Here’s the part of his résumé I find most intriguing: “I oversaw 5-8 Level Designers working on both Multiplayer and Singleplayer maps until early 2012. At that point, I transitioned to a consultation role, assisting Gearbox and other developers with various level design related issues as they took over principal development.” The implication there is that TimeGate was principal developer on Colonial Marines until last year.

Second up is designer Nathan Wood, who says he did all the “level layout, combat scripting, lighting, and event hookups” in the entire first level in the game.

If any of this can be damning, those are it. In the meantime, though, we’ll keep wondering what in the world really went on with what should have been one of the biggest titles of the year.

“That is understood and fair and we are looking at that,” he tweeted. “Lots of info to parse, lots of stake holders to respect. Lots to learn and discuss here… Beyond the scope of twitter. I appreciate and value criticism. I do not appreciate threats, insults, rudeness and intent not to add value, but to injure.

“I have always profited from criticism and, thankfully, I have never been in short supply.”

Original story

Demos can often be misrepresentative in their ambition to present “a vertical slice” of gameplay; Dead Space 3′s, for example, is spliced together from gameplay sections which take place several hours into the game and don’t occur in sequence. Additionally, many demos are code specially crafted for events like E3 and gamescom, rather than being pulled from the actual current game build.

This hasn’t held any water in the wilds, though; VideoGamer put together a video comparing the demo and final game side by side, and a highly disappointed Jim Sterling tackled the issue in a special edition of the Jimquisition. Both videos are below for your perusal.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/02/19/aliens-colonial-marines-demo-comparisons-raise-eyebrows/feed/39Aliens: Colonial Marines modders working to improve Gearbox’s shooterhttp://www.vg247.com/2013/02/18/aliens-colonial-marines-modders-working-to-improve-gearboxs-shooter/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/02/18/aliens-colonial-marines-modders-working-to-improve-gearboxs-shooter/#commentsMon, 18 Feb 2013 22:10:24 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=341225Modders and power users have begun finding way to improve the Aliens: Colonial Marines experience on PC. Check out this Steam community post for an example of how far hobbyists have already gone in tweaking the game’s aesthetics; it’s expected that more weighty mods will follow shortly. Aliens: Colonial Marines released to a very poor critical reception and questions have been asked about its drawn-out development cycle.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/02/18/aliens-colonial-marines-modders-working-to-improve-gearboxs-shooter/feed/0Aliens: Colonial Marines Wii U is the worst version, claims so-called QA testerhttp://www.vg247.com/2013/02/18/aliens-colonial-marines-wii-u-is-the-worst-version-claims-so-called-qa-tester/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/02/18/aliens-colonial-marines-wii-u-is-the-worst-version-claims-so-called-qa-tester/#commentsMon, 18 Feb 2013 10:52:08 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=341066Aliens: Colonial Marines on Wii U is apparently the worst version of the bunch. That’s the claim of a so-called QA tester for Sega Europe who has been spilled many beans on Reddit recently. We’re heavily regarding all of the below as rumour at this time.

Nintendo Life reports that the leaker, known as SOE Tester, took to Reddit to address questions surrounding the Alien: Colonial Marines furore that kicked off last week, including claims that Gearbox had very little to do with the game.

“Oh wow. Yes okay. I was hoping someone would ask this. I have played the WiiU version. The one that is supposedly the best of all of them? It is not. It is the worst. It is a bit of a joke.

“The WiiU is basically the same game as the console version but with framerate issues, worse texture loading, and horrendously misguided minigames thrown in. You get a ‘scanner’ to scan enemies and get bonus points that aid your harming them. When you cut open doors (which happens a lot in the game) you have a game where you have to keep the heat ‘optimal’.

“They just add frustration, and take away even more from the fun. We don’t know if it will come out, Sega are conisdering canceling it, but right now its still going.”

The thread is full of users asking the source to properly confirm his previous position as tester, but so far they have failed to provide anything concrete, so we’re highly sceptical.

What do you make of the above? Does it sound legitimate? Let us know below.

All of the confusion stemmed from Kotaku writer Jason Schreier stating on Twitter, “We heard from a tipster about a month ago that the Wii U version had been ‘postponed indefinitely’. We reached out to Sega, and they denied it. I’ll let you guys fill in the blanks there. :)”

When Eurogamer asked Sega about the term ‘postponed indefinitely’ a rep reiterated that the game’s release date hadn’t been formally announced for Wii U.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/02/14/aliens-colonial-marines-wii-u-hasnt-been-cancelled-says-sega-uk/feed/5Aliens: Colonial Marines developer takes to Reddit to shed light on its development – rumorhttp://www.vg247.com/2013/02/13/aliens-colonial-marines-developer-takes-to-reddit-to-shed-light-on-its-development-rumor/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/02/13/aliens-colonial-marines-developer-takes-to-reddit-to-shed-light-on-its-development-rumor/#commentsWed, 13 Feb 2013 20:35:09 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=339886A person claiming to have worked on Aliens: Colonial Marines’ development has posted on Reddit a rumored history of the game’s development woes.

We’re noting this as a rumor because it’s an anonymous post.

According to the post from throwawayacm, who states he worked on the project “for around a year and a half,” issues started when SEGA announced the game six years ago “long before it had even started production,”

“Pecan (the internal codename for ACM) has a pretty long history,” said the poster. “SEGA, GBX (Gearbox) and 20th Century FOX came to an agreement to produce an Aliens game around 6 years ago, after which SEGA almost immediately announced it, long before Pecan had even started production.

“The game has been in active development in the past, only to be shelved in favor of another project (Borderlands, Duke, etc), and each time it was resumed it would undergo a major content overhaul.”

The poster states that while SEGA wan’t pleased with the delays, the last time development resumed, Gearbox “outsourced a good portion of the game to outside companies.”

“Initially, the plan was for TimeGate to take the majority of campaign, GBX would take MP, Demiurge and Nerve would handle DLC and various other focused tasks” the post reads. “This decision was made mostly so that most of the developers at GBX could continue working on Borderlands 2, while a small group of LDs, coders and designers dealt with Pecan.

“Somehow the schedules for Pecan and Borderlands 2 managed to line up and GBX realized that there was no fucking way they could cert and ship two titles at the same time. Additionally, campaign (which was being developed by TimeGate) was extremely far behind, even as Pecan’s Beta deadline got closer and closer. ”

The post goes on to say that at one point, TimeGate put together 85% of the game’s campaign, but “once Borderlands 2 shipped and GBX turned its attention to Pecan,” things became “pretty apparent that what had been made was in a pretty horrid state.”

“Campaign didn’t make much sense, the boss fights weren’t implemented, PS3 was way over memory, etc etc etc. GBX was pretty unhappy with TG’s work, and some of Campaign maps were just completely redesigned from scratch. There were some last minute feature requests, most notably female marines, and the general consensus among GBX devs was that there was no way this game was going to be good by ship. There just wasn’t enough time.”

It concludes with the poster stating that all involved basically ran out of time, and the “rush to throw a playable product together came at the cost of the story,” ending with the poster stating that hopefully DLC will remedy that particular situation.

Read the entire thing through the link, as well as his answers to questions on Reddit here.

It was revealed yesterday that Demiurge helped with “networking and multiplayer,” as well as the Wii U port; TimeGate Studios on “probably about 20 or 25% of the total time [and] of you take pre-production out of it, their effort’s probably equivalent to ours,” according to Gearbox boss Randy Picthford, and Nerve Software built some of the multiplayer maps for the game.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun claims an anonymous former Timegate employee offered independent collaboration of some aspects of the Reddit poster’s story, as well as disputing Pitchford’s break down of development duties.

“TimeGate definitely played a much bigger role in the development of Aliens than either Gearbox or Sega is letting on. Aliens: Colonial Marines is essentially TimeGate’s game,” the source said.

“From my understanding, almost all of TimeGate has been working on it for a few years, and they are not a small studio. Preproduction is a very insubstantial period in a game’s development. For him to say that the contribution was equal sans preproduction is basically saying it’s equal. You can see that Randy’s math isn’t really adding up. If Timegate did half, and Gearbox did half, where does that leave Demiurge, Nerve, and Darkside?”